Roundtable Interview With Kit Harington On Silent Hill: Revelation

With HBO’s Game of Thrones asserting itself as one of television’s biggest hits right now, many of you probably know young actor Kit Harington as his popular warrior character Jon Snow. As his Hollywood stock skyrockets though, you can expect to see a heavy dosage of Mr. Harington pretty soon, starting with the horror film Silent Hill: Revelation.

In Michael J. Bassett’s feature film adaptation of the video game Silent Hill 3, Kit can be seen playing a newly modified version of the character Vincent. Teaming up with Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens), the two must traverse the darkened world of Silent Hill, finding the truth behind Heather’s mysterious upbringing.

We were lucky enough to sit down with the budding star while he was promoting Silent Hill: Revelation in New York, where he discussed his preparation for the role of Vincent, his love for the horror genre, and as much Game of Thrones information regarding Season 3 as we could get away with.

Check it out below!

We Got This Covered: How did you prepare for Silent Hill: Revelation? Did you play the Silent Hill video games beforehand? Or was the franchise new to you.

Kit Harington: I played the games when I was younger, but I was terrified of them. They scared the shit out of me. My brother played them more than I did, but I was aware of them and I saw the first Silent Hill film, so knew the vibe of what was going on. I’ve always wanted to do horror, so this was just another tick off the box.

But as far as preparing, I didn’t play the game because my character is different from that in the game. He’s a very different beast as it were. I don’t think I would have gotten the role had they been sticking true to the Vincent in the game. You could have called him a different name entirely. I prepared by asking the director a lot of questions because he’s very knowledgeable about the game and seeing what his vision was and trying to marry that with how I approached the character.

We Got This Covered: You said how terrifying the game was, so how was it being submersed in the Silent Hill universe, looking around and seeing all this really twisted imagery and demons running about. Can you talk about the mindset you were in during shooting?

Kit Harington: Yeah, it’s a bizarre mindset you get into because you hear actors saying how tough this industry is, as I’m handed a glass of water [laughs and takes the glass], but people say “it was a hard shoot,” and proper films are, they are really tiring things. You have long days of being chased, or screaming, with all the blood and gore, and it does affect you and it kind of creeps into your dreams. I loved the process, but it was a test. A good test.

We Got This Covered: So when you left shooting, did you find yourself looking over your shoulder every now and then?

Kit Harington: You joke, but you’re walking down the street, and again Silent Hill is all about reality and our concept of reality and what it is, with all sorts of questions being asked, so you sort of get into a very strange mindset when you’re off for the weekend or have a day off, and you sit there contemplating reality because the film has pushed you into that place.

We Got This Covered: Can you speak to the difficulties director Michael J. Bassett had to face in creating Silent Hill: Revelation? Did he find it challenging having to appeal to both Silent Hill 3 fans and cinema fans alike?

Kit Harington: It’s always difficult. I’ve worked on a few things where it’s an adaptation and it’s the same old story, trying to please everyone.

You can’t please everyone. There are people who no doubt would have loved the Vincent in the game, and won’t like our portrayal or how it’s written in the film.  That’s just something you have to face. Some people won’t have played the game and will love the portrayal. It’s one of those things where you can’t please everybody, you can only do what the director thinks is right and what you think is right, and so you just have the same goal and hope that people like it, and I think they will.

We Got This Covered: How did you feel about the characterization of Vincent that you embodied versus his persona in the game?

Kit Harington: Well, I hope it’s right. I can’t say for sure. I’m terrible at watching my own things, I kind of watch it with squinted eyes, but I think I did him justice.

We Got This Covered: Can you speak to working with Adelaide Clemens and her performance as Heather Mason?

Kit Harington: Oh yeah, she’s great, she’s fantastic. She had a hard time, shooting long days because she was practically in every single scene, and there were days I saw her and she just looked dead to the world, because she’s facing these demons, literal demons, every fucking day. She’s great to work with, always bright and spritely on set, and happy to see you. I’ve got nothing but admiration for her and I think she nailed the role.

We Got This Covered: Which is funny you say she was “bright and spritely” on set while her character is dealing with these horrors.

Kit Harington: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Continue reading on the next page…